BEHAVIOR #8 CONFRONT REALITY (pp. 185 - 191)

Confront Reality:

* Take issues head on, even the "undiscussables" (especially the un-discussables"?)
* Address the tough stuff directly.
* Acknowledge the unsaid.
* Lead out courageously in conversation
* Remove the "sword from their hands."
* Don't skirt the real issues
* Don't bury your head in the sand

To me, these admonitions are all one in the same: be courageous in conversation!

Confronting reality might be one of the hardest and most rewarding courageous acts of the leader.

In Jim Collins' seminal work Good to Great, he quotes U.S Admiral James Stockdale who gained true leader status as a POW in Vietnam: "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end - which you can never afford to lose - with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."

Covey shares the story of Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox, having to face hard decisions when debt was up, stock price and morale were down. She shut down a division, the changed the cost structure, resolved an accounting scandal (NBD, right?), and transitioned the product and service line. Mostly, she was admired for telling the unpopular truth. Of course, the opposite of CONFRONTING reality is to IGNORE reality - the path of least resistance, at least in the short-term.

When we do ignore the difficult issues, people see us in two ways:
1) lacking character or
2) lacking competence
I don't know about you, but I don't want my hard-won efforts to develop myself undermined because I was cowardly when facing hard issues. It's not worth the loss - or the net zero sum (they cancel each other out).

Confronting Reality does impact SPEED and COST.  "First, it builds the kind of relationship that facilitate open interaction and fast achievement.  Second, instead of having to wrestle with all the hard issues on your own while trying to pain a rosy picture for everyone else, you actually engage the creativity, capability, and synergy of others in solving those issues."

Popularity, comfort, saving face are all reasons why people don't confront reality. BUT, according to Covey, small problems only become big problems when not confront. Rip off the band-aid and do what you need to do, is the message. And we're reminded, we can confront reality and still never lose faith.